


Titans v. the Outlaws, Chapter 1

by Moonbear64



Category: DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Titans (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23263318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonbear64/pseuds/Moonbear64
Summary: Dick Grayson is out on a solo recon mission when a familiar face shows up with a mission of his own. It appears as though Jason Todd a.k.a. the Red Hood might be putting a team of his own together, and the Titans will have to figure out why.
Kudos: 9





	Titans v. the Outlaws, Chapter 1

The rain pattered down steadily as it did often in Gotham City, with the sky in a pale shine from a moon hidden behind the clouds. Dick Grayson, also known as the masked hero Nightwing, stood looking down at the city’s bright lights and neon glow. His attention was fixated on one building in particular: the downtown public library. It’s regal, roman-like architecture stood like a shining monument, and its glass rooftop emitted a warm glow into the cold dreary night. Dick often remembered going there as a kid with Bruce, checking out books on military strategy, philosophy and history. He once convinced Alfred to take him just for fun, not for a specific purpose like Bruce always did, and remembered reading the entire works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Even when reading just for fun, Dick loved solving mysteries. In every single story, he tried to see if he could figure out its resolution before Holmes could. That entire summer he went around saying “Elementary, my dear Wayne,” in the Bat Cave, much to Bruce’s chagrin. But as he stood looking down on the library, he was reminded he was there for an entirely different reason.  
He stood, studying the layout of the building and surrounding area. Tonight there was a big charity event hosted by the Wayne Arts Foundation. Half of Gotham’s elites would be meeting in their fanciest dress, bidding on things like overpriced pieces of classical art and rare collectable artifacts to raise money for the after-school programs for the city’s under-served youth. Mind you, Dick thought, none of these people would actually know anything about what they were buying. But it was expensive and something to talk about at boring rich people parties. He knew this from experience, from whenever he had to attend such gatherings for recon as a kid. However, if there was only one thing he knew about the one-percenters in Gotham, it was that at any given function one or two would have deep pockets tied to illegal activity. As it just so happens, Dick had been tracking the whereabouts of one Count Werner Zytle – who was to the public a Royal Ambassador for Vlativa, but behind the scenes operated as a villain named Count Vertigo.  
Dick had tracked his most recent movements to Gotham and had a hunch that Vertigo would want to take this time to network with some future “business” partners. Tonight was strictly a recon mission, which was why he was here alone. Donna was back at Titans tower; Dick trusted her if anything were to go wrong. She could handle herself as a leader, and sometimes he questioned whether or not it would be better for her to take over completely. Maybe he should had let her know about his mission. Or at least Babs… Before he could finish his next thought, he spotted a familiar face exit a limo and start walking up the red carpet into the library. Vertigo. Dick took a step forward and without so much as a blink of an eye dove off the building.  
It wasn’t a particularly long way down, by his standards at least, but in the few seconds he had in freefall Dick felt absolutely calm and focused. “This is my natural habitat,” he thought to himself. “I may be some big shot superhero to everyone else, but in my heart I’m just a kid from the circus.” The wind rushed past his face as he casually fell. At the very last moment he shot out his grappling hook and swung in a large arc up, doing two flips out of muscle memory alone, and landed gracefully on the roof of the library. He quickly tiptoed to the side of the windowed glass structured and knelt down, giving him a clear view into the main area where all the guests were mingling. “I wonder what kind of hors d’oeuvres they have down there. Are those crab cakes?” Dick made a note to go back for some if he could. As much as he hated growing up as an elite upper-cruster, he had to admit one thing: rich people knew how to snack.  
Dick traced Vertigo’s movement through the event as he stopped talking to different people. So far, nothing was out of the ordinary. Dick wondered for a moment if this was a waste of time. Just then, a familiar voice rang out behind him.  
“Well now this is awkward,” the voice said in a sarcastic, playful tone. “I think maybe you and I are here for the same date. Tall guy, funny accent? Connected to organized crime but protected from his two favorite words: ‘diplomatic immunity?’ If you want, I’ll let you have the first dance as long as I can go home with him.”  
Dick turned without showing any of his surprise and warmly said “Hey, Jason.” Jason Todd, Dick’s successor as Robin and recently reincarnated vigilante, undoubtedly made this night more complicated. “Tell you what, if you go get me some crab cakes, I’m half inclined to let you talk to him. That is of course so long as you don’t stab him first.” Dick looked at Jason. He was in a black uniform, not too unlike his own, but instead of a blue ‘V’ on his chest he sported a deep red bat. He was wearing his mask, an all red helmet covering his entire face and had what looked to be two guns on either side of his hips and a sword on his back.  
Jason chuckled. “Listen Dick, as much as I love standing in the rain flirting with you, I’m actually here for a purpose. If you don’t mind, I’m about to crash a charity ball. Me and the Count have some unfinished business.”  
“I’m not sure if you got the memo, but it’s black tie only. Can’t quite walk in looking so… functional.” Dick replied. He hadn’t figured out exactly what Jason had to do with Vertigo, and why he was even in Gotham, but it couldn’t be good news. And Dick had a hunch it wouldn’t be exactly be a quiet event either. He stood up, on higher alert.  
“Okay fine. Cards on the table. Last week I broke up a human trafficking ring in Coast city. After having a chat with the ever-so-lovely gentlemen involved in trading kids, they let it slip that Ambassador Zytle here has been funding their operations for months. I did some digging and found our he was going to be in Gotham on the same night as this big event and put two and two together and figured I’d stop by. As far as my intel goes, he is just the checkbook, but I still need to find the man in charge. What do you say, team up?”  
Dick studied Jason for a moment and looked back inside. “These people you chatted with, are they still alive?”  
“They’re alive. In the hospital for months probably, but alive. If they just so happen to slip away while the nurses are taking care of them, though, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. Once I find the man in charge of this operation – well let’s just say I won’t be pulling any punches.”  
“Darn it, Jason. You know I can’t have you parading around Gotham shooting up libraries and attacking ambassadors. Didn’t you and Bruce reach an arrangement that specifically said you were to stay out of Gotham?”  
“First of all, did you seriously just say ‘Darn it’? Second of all, as I remember you and he had a similar arrangement at some point but yet here you are. I stopped caring about Bruce’s arbitrary rules ages ago. Besides, if everything goes right, he’ll never even know I was here.” Jason walked over to look down through the window too.  
“I’ll know.” Dick squinted his eyes and started to think. Would Jason be a threat? He knew if things went south he could handle him, but wasn’t sure he could do that and keep tabs on Vertigo. If push came to shove, Dick would have to make a choice. He thought again that he should have asked for another person on the mission. At the very least he should have told Barbara. She likes helping out, even on boring nights. Especially on boring nights. Dick stood up and turned to Jason. He was getting an increasing suspicion tonight would not be a boring night.  
“Listen, I’ve been tracking Vertigo too. He knows he can make some money by shaking the right hands tonight and I don’t think he’s here to cause a scene. This is an intel gathering mission only, we stay back and observe from afar. Only engage if we absolutely have to. Maybe if we catch him in a moment alone, we can move in and ask more pointed questions, but we can’t overplay our hand. Like or not, Vertigo is an authorized ambassador and if word got out a couple of masks roughed him up with no evidence, we could have a serious diplomatic crisis on our hands.” Dick knew Jason wouldn’t go for it but needed to try anyway. “Sound like a deal?”  
“Sorry bro, I got a hot date later and can’t come home with your cheap cologne on me. I’m going in now.”  
“No, Jason, you aren’t.” Dick stuck out one hand to stop him and slowly moved his other down to his hip. His fingers danced on the tip of his batons, which were sheathed in a custom holster. Before he could say anything else, Jason hit his hand away and drew one of his pistols and pointed it straight ahead. “Come on Jas…”  
Dick jumped into a backflip and kicked the gun out of Jason’s hand. By the time he landed and drew his batons, Jason had already leaped away and had unsheathed his sword. Dick slammed the two batons together and twisted, forming a long staff with ends that glowed a bright neon blue. He spun it around and lowered himself into a sparring ready position. Jason gripped his sword with two hands and pointed it at Dick.  
“Listen, I don’t want to have to give you any stiches, but I have to do what I have to do. I’m sure you understand.” Jason sneered. “It’s really nothing personal.”  
“I get it – I just can’t let that happen. You want to calm down now or what?” Dick replied. In response, Jason jumped forward and stabbed in a straight line towards Dick’s torso. Without looking Dick brushed the blade aside with his staff and whipped around, hitting Jason in the back. He knew Jason wasn’t trying to kill him. “Which gives me the upper hand,” Dick thought. Jason stood there, half-smiling.  
Jason dropped one hand from the sword and lunged at Dick. He jammed his knee up at Dick’s torso, and then spun around slicing his sword in a downward arc. Dick blocked the knee and then the blade, then shot his elbow towards Jason’s face. The blow connected with his jaw and sent Jason stumbling back. Spitting a little blood from his mouth, Jason smiled before grabbing the sword with two hands once more and lunging back at Dick, calmly and calculated. The two of them continued trading blows: a punch here, a scratch there, but neither were going down. The only downside of being trained by the greatest fighter in the world was that they both knew how each other fought. They anticipated each other’s moves so well that the best they could do were small blows. Jason swung once more, this time reaching behind his back and pulling out a small knife. Dick saw this, and knew he’d have to take the hit. The knife sliced his arm, producing a long gash. It wasn’t deep, but blood started to pour down Dick’s arm. This needed to stop, Dick thought.  
Dick tore his staff apart into two batons again and clicked the small buttons towards their bases. The blue lights on the end started to glow, as electrical bolts jumped between them. “For Christ’s sa—” mumbled Jason before Dick flipped forward, over Jason’s head, knocking his sword away with one baton and landing a charge on his chest with the other. Jason coughed and sputtered and fell to his knees. The charge was only enough to knock the wind out of him, but that was all Dick needed. He quickly pulled out thin, military-grade wire and proceeded to tie up Jason’s hands behind his back.  
“See, now that wasn’t so hard.” Dick panted. Although he said this as nonchalantly as he could, he looked quite worse for wear. He grabbed his arm to slow the bleeding and otherwise was visibly sweating. Beating Jason wasn’t as easy as he wanted to, or ever would, admit.  
“Shut up. It doesn’t matter anyway, Vertigo is gone.” Jason spat back. Dick turned around and searched the building. He was right. Darn it, he thought. Now it’s going to be back to square one. Jason sat up a little bit and coughed. “Thanks to you Dick we’re back to square one. If Vertigo just financed some other kid’s kidnapping, that’s on you. I’m trying to save people’s lives here, not play superhero.”  
“It’s not that simple and you know it.” As the words came out of his mouth, Dick noticed something about what Jason had just said. “Wait, what do you mean ‘we’re’? Who’s ‘we’?”  
“You know what I’ve learned over the years? It’s nice to have friends. Say hi to the Teeny gang for me.” Jason suddenly threw his bound hands up above his head. Dick turned at the last second to see a single red streak shoot across the sky and cut the wire around Jason’s hands. Before the arrow had stuck into the wall behind them, a second landed at Dick’s feet and started pumping out a dark red smoke that shrouded the two men. Dick turned back to look at Jason, coughing and covering his nose, but he was already gone.  
Once the smoke cleared, Dick bent down and picked up the arrows. He couldn’t believe they were real, but he recognized them instantly: they were the ones Roy Harper used. Harper, a.k.a. Speedy, was a former apprentice to Green Arrow, Teen Titan and recovering addict. The last Dick had heard, Roy was back in Seattle laying low. Why would he be helping Jason track Vertigo and why had he not reached out to Dick? To any of the Titans? It didn’t make sense. Dick pulled out his comms unit and rung Donna.  
“Hey Dick, GPS says you’re at the library. Find anything good to read?” the familiar voice said. “Things are slow at the tower tonight. Gar is telling me to tell you to pick up some pizza on the way back, so this is me telling you to do that.”  
“Donna get the team together. Red Hood stopped by and he brought a friend. We’re going to have to deal with this and figure out their next move. Now.”  
Donna’s voice instantly turned serious. Dick appreciated how she was always ready for anything. “Got it. See you at the tower soon.”  
“It’s Roy, Donna. Jason’s friend was Roy.”  
There was a long pause on the line before Donna replied, quietly trying to hide the emotion in her voice. Dick thought she sounded like a combination of surprised, concerned and excited. “Okay. Anything else?”  
“Just make sure the first aid is out, I have a papercut that needs a band-aid. Nightwing out.” Dick put away the comms unit and stared out into the skyline. This is going to be a long night, he thought. Definitely not a boring one, that’s for sure. He took a small running start and leapt off the roof, towards Titans Tower.


End file.
